Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2014 22:27:34 GMT -6
Maerot led them through a confusing maze of corridors, sometimes even doubling back on their steps. “Hacked into ship’s security systems, tracking slavers, must avoid their patrols,” he explained.
Graal didn’t understand; they were going to kill the slavers, so why wait? But then again, he is a salarian, probably just wants to take over the ship without having to fight, he thought.
The sound of approaching footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. The salarian darted into another hallway and the asari followed, but Graal had had enough waiting; it was time to start killing now.
The salarian grabbed his arm and hissed, “Krogan, do not fight them, I know you want to fight, but I have other allies and plan to re-take ship, once I give you plan, you can then kill all the slavers you want, but must wait, please!”
With a grunt of effort, Graal pushed back the bloodthirsty howls screaming through his brain and joined the others, but he caressed the trigger on the Claymore as he waited, imagining the slaver’s heads exploding as he shot them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the salarian said, “Slavers gone, almost at destination, follow me!”
*****
A few minutes later, they reached a nondescript cabin. The salarian knocked on it twice, paused, knocked again, paused and then knocked three more times. There were then three knocks back, followed by two, then one and the door slid open. The salarian entered, followed by the asari.
Graal entered and was greeted by the sight of a quarian and a volus putting away pistols. He glared at the salarian. “This is it, a quarian and a volus?” he asked.
“What did you expect, full platoon of fellow krogan, must take allies where you can get them, now let’s go over the plan,” the salarian said, projecting a layout of the ship from his omnitool.
“Before we begin, shouldn’t we introduce ourselves?” asked one of the asari. He recognized her as the one who hadn’t shot him.
“Can get to know each other after we re-take ship, need to go over plan,” the salarian insisted.
“I am Seleria Sheus, a nun in service to our Goddess,” she said, then pointed to the other and said, “This is Luyna T’Gosia, another nun in our order. She just took her vows.”
Luyna just nodded at the others, still clearly nervous.
“I’m Botnar Dileed,” the volus said, and took a breath. “I’m an…arms dealer.”
Graal nodded. Maybe he won’t be completely useless.
The quarian said, “I’m Zeto’Kaddi nar Cyniad, I’m an engineer.”
Seleria said, “You’re on your Pilgrimage, aren’t you?”
Zeto cocked his head. “How do you know about the Pilgrimage?” he asked.
“Can discuss later, need to focus on re-taking ship, must go over plan!” Maerot insisted, and brought up the ship’s diagram. “Have hacked into ship’s security system, very poor safeguards, was done in under a minute, may contact owners and offer to upgrade security for a price after we’re done, but back to plan, slavers have taken bridge and engine room, have teams going through passenger section and taking them back to their ship, their positions are indicated by red markers.”
Large groups of red markers appeared in the bridge and engine room with smaller groups slowly moving through the ship.
He took a quick breath and resumed. “Main priority is engine room, if we can retake it can use secondary bridge controls to gain control of ship, but too many guards in vicinity, must divert them to other location, krogan can be decoy, best if you head towards bridge, make them focus their defenses there, should take one asari with you to watch your back, no good as diversion if killed quickly, rest of us will attack engine room, any questions?”
“This is your new captain,” a voice announced over the public address system. “It seems some of you gave a very poor welcome to my crew. Very well. I have the previous captain and crew with me, and I will…dismiss one of them every five minutes until you properly introduce yourselves to me.”
There was some scuffling heard, and then another voice came on. “This is…your previous captain,” he said, his voice cracking with fear. “Your new captain is serious, he’s already…dismissed three of my crew right in front me, please, we have—“
A gunshot cut him off. Everyone but Graal and Maerot cried out in shock.
“Just in case you doubted my word,” the slaver captain said. “Remember, every five minutes another member of the former crew will be dismissed until you present yourselves to me in the bridge. Captain out.”
“Keelah,” Zeto said as he sat down.
“Goddess, wrap the souls of the departed in your loving embrace,” Luyna prayed, her head bowed. She then looked up and said, “We have do what he says, we can’t let any more innocent people die for us.”
“You do that,” Graal rumbled. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be killed on sight. If not, then you’ll be tortured to tell what you know about us, and then sold into a lifetime of slavery.”
“Krogan right, only sure thing about surrendering is we lose,” Maerot said. “Slaver captain will most likely kill more crewmembers after we surrender just to show the price of any further defiance, what I would do in his place, must get back to plan, does anyone have any questions?”
“Yeah,” Graal said. “What are you going to be doing?”
“Will be acting as secondary decoy, operating on other side of ship, recommend you go on this side,” Maerot said, pointing to the side with fewer red markers. “Looks counterintuitive, but remember, need to stay alive long enough to divert guards from engine room, fewer slavers means lower chance of being killed, any other questions?”
Seleria asked, “How long must we keep up the diversion?”
“Until engine room is re-taken of course, will contact you when successful, anything else?”
The makeshift resistance looked at each other. No one said anything.
“Good, start immediately, sooner we start, sooner we can retake ship, alright krogan, take asari and go,” the salarian said.
“Shouldn’t I have a weapon as well?” Seleria said. “That will certainly help keep me alive longer, right?”
“Can take one of krogan’s weapons,” Maerot said.
“No,” both Graal and the asari said together. Seleria continued, “Those weapons all look a bit too much for me to handle, does anyone have anything else?”
“I have…a few items,” Botnar said, and the volus waddled over to a bunk. He pulled out a carrying case from underneath it, opened it and withdrew a submachine gun. “An M-12 Locust,” he said, handing it over. “Very accurate…hardly any recoil.”
“Thank you,” Seleria said. “I hope I don’t have to use it.”
“Probably will,” Graal said.
“Seleria!” Luyna called out, and went to her. “May the Goddess be with you.”
“And also with you,” Seleria said, and they embraced.
“Time to go, must not delay,” Maerot said, and the asari stepped away from each other.
“All right, let’s go be diversions,” Graal said, and strode out of the room, the asari right behind him.
Graal didn’t understand; they were going to kill the slavers, so why wait? But then again, he is a salarian, probably just wants to take over the ship without having to fight, he thought.
The sound of approaching footsteps snapped him out of his reverie. The salarian darted into another hallway and the asari followed, but Graal had had enough waiting; it was time to start killing now.
The salarian grabbed his arm and hissed, “Krogan, do not fight them, I know you want to fight, but I have other allies and plan to re-take ship, once I give you plan, you can then kill all the slavers you want, but must wait, please!”
With a grunt of effort, Graal pushed back the bloodthirsty howls screaming through his brain and joined the others, but he caressed the trigger on the Claymore as he waited, imagining the slaver’s heads exploding as he shot them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the salarian said, “Slavers gone, almost at destination, follow me!”
*****
A few minutes later, they reached a nondescript cabin. The salarian knocked on it twice, paused, knocked again, paused and then knocked three more times. There were then three knocks back, followed by two, then one and the door slid open. The salarian entered, followed by the asari.
Graal entered and was greeted by the sight of a quarian and a volus putting away pistols. He glared at the salarian. “This is it, a quarian and a volus?” he asked.
“What did you expect, full platoon of fellow krogan, must take allies where you can get them, now let’s go over the plan,” the salarian said, projecting a layout of the ship from his omnitool.
“Before we begin, shouldn’t we introduce ourselves?” asked one of the asari. He recognized her as the one who hadn’t shot him.
“Can get to know each other after we re-take ship, need to go over plan,” the salarian insisted.
“I am Seleria Sheus, a nun in service to our Goddess,” she said, then pointed to the other and said, “This is Luyna T’Gosia, another nun in our order. She just took her vows.”
Luyna just nodded at the others, still clearly nervous.
“I’m Botnar Dileed,” the volus said, and took a breath. “I’m an…arms dealer.”
Graal nodded. Maybe he won’t be completely useless.
The quarian said, “I’m Zeto’Kaddi nar Cyniad, I’m an engineer.”
Seleria said, “You’re on your Pilgrimage, aren’t you?”
Zeto cocked his head. “How do you know about the Pilgrimage?” he asked.
“Can discuss later, need to focus on re-taking ship, must go over plan!” Maerot insisted, and brought up the ship’s diagram. “Have hacked into ship’s security system, very poor safeguards, was done in under a minute, may contact owners and offer to upgrade security for a price after we’re done, but back to plan, slavers have taken bridge and engine room, have teams going through passenger section and taking them back to their ship, their positions are indicated by red markers.”
Large groups of red markers appeared in the bridge and engine room with smaller groups slowly moving through the ship.
He took a quick breath and resumed. “Main priority is engine room, if we can retake it can use secondary bridge controls to gain control of ship, but too many guards in vicinity, must divert them to other location, krogan can be decoy, best if you head towards bridge, make them focus their defenses there, should take one asari with you to watch your back, no good as diversion if killed quickly, rest of us will attack engine room, any questions?”
“This is your new captain,” a voice announced over the public address system. “It seems some of you gave a very poor welcome to my crew. Very well. I have the previous captain and crew with me, and I will…dismiss one of them every five minutes until you properly introduce yourselves to me.”
There was some scuffling heard, and then another voice came on. “This is…your previous captain,” he said, his voice cracking with fear. “Your new captain is serious, he’s already…dismissed three of my crew right in front me, please, we have—“
A gunshot cut him off. Everyone but Graal and Maerot cried out in shock.
“Just in case you doubted my word,” the slaver captain said. “Remember, every five minutes another member of the former crew will be dismissed until you present yourselves to me in the bridge. Captain out.”
“Keelah,” Zeto said as he sat down.
“Goddess, wrap the souls of the departed in your loving embrace,” Luyna prayed, her head bowed. She then looked up and said, “We have do what he says, we can’t let any more innocent people die for us.”
“You do that,” Graal rumbled. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be killed on sight. If not, then you’ll be tortured to tell what you know about us, and then sold into a lifetime of slavery.”
“Krogan right, only sure thing about surrendering is we lose,” Maerot said. “Slaver captain will most likely kill more crewmembers after we surrender just to show the price of any further defiance, what I would do in his place, must get back to plan, does anyone have any questions?”
“Yeah,” Graal said. “What are you going to be doing?”
“Will be acting as secondary decoy, operating on other side of ship, recommend you go on this side,” Maerot said, pointing to the side with fewer red markers. “Looks counterintuitive, but remember, need to stay alive long enough to divert guards from engine room, fewer slavers means lower chance of being killed, any other questions?”
Seleria asked, “How long must we keep up the diversion?”
“Until engine room is re-taken of course, will contact you when successful, anything else?”
The makeshift resistance looked at each other. No one said anything.
“Good, start immediately, sooner we start, sooner we can retake ship, alright krogan, take asari and go,” the salarian said.
“Shouldn’t I have a weapon as well?” Seleria said. “That will certainly help keep me alive longer, right?”
“Can take one of krogan’s weapons,” Maerot said.
“No,” both Graal and the asari said together. Seleria continued, “Those weapons all look a bit too much for me to handle, does anyone have anything else?”
“I have…a few items,” Botnar said, and the volus waddled over to a bunk. He pulled out a carrying case from underneath it, opened it and withdrew a submachine gun. “An M-12 Locust,” he said, handing it over. “Very accurate…hardly any recoil.”
“Thank you,” Seleria said. “I hope I don’t have to use it.”
“Probably will,” Graal said.
“Seleria!” Luyna called out, and went to her. “May the Goddess be with you.”
“And also with you,” Seleria said, and they embraced.
“Time to go, must not delay,” Maerot said, and the asari stepped away from each other.
“All right, let’s go be diversions,” Graal said, and strode out of the room, the asari right behind him.